Ever have a sneaking suspicion that your mom wished you were a boy? You might be right. According to an anonymous survey of more than 26,000 moms conducted by TODAY.com and Parenting.com, ten percent say they wish their child was the opposite sex. And of that ten percent, 60 percent have boys. Sorry, boys!
After three months of being a tattooed mom, I have felt those judging eyes as I walk away. In all likelihood, any opinion they formed about me has morphed into something else. Which just makes me want to tattoo the following down my arm: I’m a breastfeeding, baby-wearing, co-sleeping, cloth diapering mom. I’m married. I own a home and a late model car. I have never received a speeding ticket, let alone been convicted of a crime. Too long?
Recently one of my clients lamented, “Dr. Shosh, the women in my new moms group are always competing with each other! They show off their baby gear and ways of handling their babies as if they’ve got the BEST way. It drives me crazy!”
Before I had kids, I was so quick to judge. When I would see a child running around the front yard wearing nothing but a diaper in the middle of May, I would scowl. Toy guns were trashy and unacceptable and lawns were meant to be lush and pristine. I would never be the one with the dirty kids and cluttered house, I vowed. I'll be the classy one whose child is always properly clad, grass is well manicured, and house is neat and tidy.
Disney starlet Selena Gomez paid a visit to the "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" last night, where she chatted about fellow guest Jim Carrey, growing up in Texas, and of course her new squeeze Justin Bieber.
Still, like my friend, mid-life parents of teens can sometimes feel disadvantaged. They describe feeling isolated from other parents. They may lack the stamina and energy that they had when their older children were teens. Others feel out of touch with aspects of teen culture. And, maybe if they had more energy they would be more motivated to listen to the trending teen music, watch some of the teen reality shows.
Tonight I got off work and did a bit of grocery shopping with the family. Then we came home and I proceeded to sit on the couch, eat bean dip and watch the Heat play while my husband made dinner. Is it a little bit of role reversal? Maybe. But the thing is, in our house and in our marriage, traditional gender roles—mom and dad, man and woman—mean almost nothing. My husband does a lot of the housework, he does most of the cooking and he takes care of the boy when I'm at meetings or working late. And we are remarkably happy with this arrangement.
Growing up, I was a too cool for some of the traditions in my hometown. But my husband, also from my hometown, loves every little bit of it. My job in our marriage was to keep things hip but then we had sons and they became involved in the Memorial Day parade. It found deep meaning for me and the family tradition brought all of us closer than scrapbooks or costume parties ever could.
A seriously bad Mother's Day has prompted a whopping 52,684 moms to cheat? That's what a dating site for affairs, Ashley Madison, says. According to FOX Business, the site reported a 321 percent increase in traffic following Mother's Day, presumably to take advantage of the site's one-day special for free messaging. On an average day, 3,000 women sign up for Ashley Madison, so needless to say, that over-50,000 stat is a huge jump—also up 60% from last Mother's Day when the same offer was on the table.
If we would have been personally asked to cast a prediction for this study, about whether moms of twins or singleton babies live longer, we would have totally went with mothers of one. Come on. We've been hearing parents tell their clans of kiddos, "Y'all are gonna be the death of me" for ages, haven't you? Chasing after two toddlers at once (and worrying about them) must take a few years off a mom's life, right? Apparently not. New research shows moms of twins actually live longer than moms who just have one baby at a time. Women who birth two children at once are generally stronger from the start, so they tend to live longer.
